Dior Men: ceramic elegance

​Kim Jones teamed up with ceramic artist Hylton Nel this season and the result was a variety of cool, colorful designs and one of her best collections for the home.

At first glance, hard, glazed ceramics are not an obvious inspiration for malleable materials in fashion. But Jones' clever approach led to all kinds of wonderful pieces, from the Pearlymen fantasies that opened the show to the bright, speckled brown trench coats.

The audience of about 1,200 milled around the huge pre-show stage, admiring Nel's sculptures, or versions enlarged 30 times from their original sizes atop the mantelpiece to three meters high. Lime Green Puss in Boots; light blue tigers; or little dogs sitting in a monumental red checkered teapot.

Nel's ideas extended to the ceramic collars and hoods of cashmere hoodies; and the cast's hairstyles. Makeup master Peter Philips works his magic on the youthful cast's shimmering hair.

It all leads to a climax like a live version of Kate Bush. Cloud Breaker He shouted over the speakers, as the cast moved around the statues. All built inside a custom-made tent in the Val-de-Grâce church.

Based in Calitzdorp, a small farming community in South Africa's Karoon Desert, Hylton Nel expresses the harshness of his country and the innate joie de vivre of its people. All evident in the crowing roosters, standing horses and cheerful Springboks dancing around the prints, or embroidered on the farm boots worn by many models.

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“What caught my attention was his knowledge, a world of knowledge from 18th century Staffordshire to Chinese Tang dynasty pottery and a wealth of pottery in between…which led me to this collection, where I wanted to do something quite personal,” Jones explained. on a note inside a finely printed book of photographs of Nel's world placed on each guest's seat.

Nel's shamans also appear as wool figures attached to mini saddlebags; or in a large collection of ceramic creatures that acted as buttons or closures on high-necked vests.

And just when it got a little decorative, Jones sent out the most dapper suits and blazers, albeit accessorized with some stiff ceramic collars.

“Dior for my true friends,” is how Jones titled this collection that will surely win the house of Dior a lot of new friends, so beautiful were these garments.